In a traditional retail environment, a customer selects various items for purchase and brings these items to a store clerk for checkout. Over the past few decades, retail point of sale systems have been greatly automated to expedite the checkout process. Computer-based point-of-sale systems are now the norm in the retail environment.
Such point-of-sale systems include one or more terminals, and a database of prices, inventory and other information related to the items for purchase. Each terminal typically has an optical scanner which scans the items to be purchased for a machine readable bar code that identifies the item on its packaging. When an item is scanned, the optical scanner sends a signal corresponding to the product number of the item to a data processing component of the point-of-sale system, which then obtains from the database the price and the description of the scanned item.
More recently, self-checkout point-of-sale systems have been popularized. These systems typically comprise self-checkout terminals each of which typically is provided with a bar code scanner with an integrated scale that allows the customer to scan the bar codes on the items to be purchased. The terminal typically also has other input and output devices such as a printer, electronic fund transfer terminal (EFT), a video camera unit and a display.
Automated self-checkout systems, such as the U-Scan Express® available from Optimal Robotics Corp., have become popular among retailers throughout North America. Some self-checkout systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,083,638, 5,115,888, 5,123,494, 5,125,465 and 5,168,961, which are incorporated herein by reference.
In the typical retail market, most produce items, as well as other items such as items priced according to weight but usually not having a standardized weight, do not have a Universal Product Code (UPC), in the form of a bar code, associated with them. A Product Look Up (PLU) code is assigned instead to such items. The PLU code corresponds to a numeric identification of the item and, in most cases, is attached to the item with a sticker.
The non-bar coded item typically is checked out by the item being placed on the scale at the checkout station, if the item is priced according to weight, and then the PLU code of the item being entered by the customer at the self-checkout station, or by the cashier at a manned checkout station, using the numeric keypad. The processing unit then assigns a price to the item based on the PLU code and, if applicable, the weight of the item detected by the scale. Many customers at such self-checkout stations do not know, however, that they need to enter manually the PLU code for such items, and therefore such customers experience delay in the checkout process.
At a self-checkout terminal, the customer is provided means to call for assistance from a supervisory employee when a non-bar coded item is to be processed. The video camera unit at the self-checkout terminal captures a video image of the uncoded item placed on the terminal's scale by the customer. The video image of the uncoded item is displayed at a supervisor station display which allows the supervisory employee to view the non-bar coded item and thereafter enter the appropriate PLU code for the item. This employee typically supervises, however, several self-checkout terminals, and therefore the customer might encounter delay waiting for a non-bar coded item to be processed.